Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jun 2002
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2002 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact:  http://www.sunspot.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Associated Press

EX-INFORMANT SAYS FBI FAILED TO KEEP PROMISES

Lawsuit Claims Bureau Agreed To Pay Percentage Of Cash And Drugs Seized

LOS ANGELES - A former FBI informant is suing the federal agency, claiming 
it abandoned him after he infiltrated a violent drug cartel in Mexico.

Avery "Skip" Ensley, 56, contends that the FBI failed to pay more than $1 
million he had been promised from seized assets linked to the investigation 
into the Arrellano Felix syndicate. He sued in U.S. District Court in Los 
Angeles on Friday.

"One of the reasons I'm going forward with this thing is that I want other 
people to know the FBI does not take care of its people," Ensley said. "My 
experience is that they will put anybody at risk for their own benefit."

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the bureau does not discuss 
pending litigation.

The lawsuit says Ensley began as an informant in 1987, when he told FBI 
agents that a man shot and killed by police in Upland was the brother of a 
drug trafficker named Luis Valenzuela, the head of the Castro drug 
organization. The syndicate ran Los Angeles operations for the Arellano 
Felix cartel. Ensley knew of Valenzuela's activities because the drug 
dealer's brother was married to Ensley's sister-in-law.

"When I learned of these drug connections, I couldn't look at myself in the 
mirror knowing I had access to this information," said Ensley, an Arizona 
resident who had been a police officer in Oregon and police chief in North 
Sioux City, S.D.

The lawsuit claims the FBI assured the couple that the government "would do 
everything it could to protect them." It also claimed that FBI agents told 
the Ensleys they would be "well compensated" with 10 percent of all cash 
seized and 10 percent of the value of drugs collected, including black tar 
heroin bought in 1997 for $24,000.

Ensley made more than 15 trips to Mexico, and his evidence helped secure 
court-ordered wiretaps and recordings used during trial.

Because of their covert roles, Ensley and his wife claim they lost two 
homes, a trucking business and a construction company in South Dakota, and 
other business ventures in Oregon and Fresno, Calif.

Their attorney, Darius Nickerson, said they received less than $50,000, 
even though their information led to seizure of at least $12 million in 
cash and more than 1,200 kilograms of cocaine.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart